{"id":6052,"date":"2012-06-26T06:50:23","date_gmt":"2012-06-26T10:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=6052"},"modified":"2012-06-28T13:37:58","modified_gmt":"2012-06-28T17:37:58","slug":"the-meaning-and-serious-side-of-blogpaws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/the-meaning-and-serious-side-of-blogpaws\/","title":{"rendered":"The Meaning and Serious Side of BlogPaws"},"content":{"rendered":"

While I did not have to contend with Hurricane Irene like last year, getting to Salt Lake City from Fort Lauderdale this year to attend BlogPaws was no easy picnic either. Armed with a thick pair of fuzzy socks, a neck pillow, and a mini plush blanket (all in leopard print) to make sure my endless flight was as comfortable as possible, I awoke sometime over Utah to see the spectacular view of a patchwork of gorgeous mountains. Naturally, my camera was packed in overhead, but it is highly unlikely I would have been able to take a photo of\u00a0 quality anyhow. Dan is clearly the photographer in our family and he was home with the cats\u2026<\/p>\n

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I was unable to take a good photo of the mountains, but did manage this stunning night shot of Temple Square that consists of three city blocks in downtown Salt Lake City. It is home to nearly 20 attractions related to Mormon history and genealogy, including the Salt Lake Temple, the Tabernacle, and the Family History Library.<\/p><\/div>\n

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During my 6 plus hour flight, it gave me plenty of time to reflect on just what blogging was to me and what did I expect to gain from the conference. Clearly much of the allure\u00a0is the social aspect \u2013 it is wonderful to connect in person with old friends as well as put a name to a face to new ones. Not to mention the obvious \u2013 the paws part of BlogPaws. Cats in hats. Cats in strollers. Big dogs. Little dogs. Ferrets and more. Everywhere you turn at BlogPaws it is a pet lovers dream come true as a bevy of animals in a variety of sizes, shapes, species, breed, and color parade down the halls of the Sheraton hotel. For someone like me who is homesick for her cats as soon as she pulls out of the driveway, it provided me with a\u00a0sense of calm and balance. Plus, I got to wear my cat ears and fit right in!<\/p>\n

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Nothing unusal here... me in ears with Teri of Curl and Swirlz and her cat Coco who is wearing a designer outfit... I was thrilled to meet up with Teri after doing that great interview with her on breeding Cornish Rex cats.<\/p><\/div>\n

But, putting that aside, I realized for me, that blogging has been a metamorphosis of sorts this year. Almost like a caterpillar who has turned into a beautiful butterfly, liberated and free, I felt that this year I had really spread my personal wings as I began to question who I was through the expression of\u00a0 writing and my love for the feline species.<\/p>\n

My blog that was\u00a0created initially as an adjunct to my book, The Chronicles of Zee & Zoey<\/em>, has been a springboard of personal discovery. I have devoured topics about cats that I did not know about, such as feral cats, spaying and neutering, cat overpopulation, breeding, and so much more with such a passion that I began to realize that blogging was my voice to teach and educate so that I could better inform others about what I have learned to help promote cat welfare. In essence, whether through humorous posts, personal stories, videos, photos, interviews, serious subjects, or anything in between, for me, my blog is the celebration of cats in every aspect and I have become their advocate.<\/p>\n

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Me with my dear friend, Christine Michaels of Riverfront Cats. She inspires me on a daily basis and is without doubt one of the main reasons I have become such a devoted and educated cat advocate.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Keynote speaker, Betsy Saul, of Petfinder.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Because of that, the highlight of BlogPaws for me had to be listening to Keynote Speaker, Betsy Saul, President and Founder of Petfinder.com on Friday morning. She completely invigorated, validated, and inspired me with her message\u00a0that education and preventative measures to reduce the numbers of pets going into shelters is critical. She says this is particulary true for cats and that we still have a long way to go towards helping our feline friends.\u00a0This news really charged me up\u00a0and\u00a0 made me even more committed to\u00a0helping cats through education and teaching so that one day we can live in a world where no adoptable cat is euthanized simply because he or she became homeless.<\/p>\n

She shared a video from TED – Ideas Worth Spreading by Derek Sivers called “How to Start A Movement” and the simple but profound\u00a0concept was one that really got me to thinking about the power and responsibility we have as bloggers to create and inspire positive change in the animal world and I thought I would share it with those of you who could not make the conference:<\/p>\n

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I can only hope that through my voice, my blog, and my actions, that I remain a diligent crusader and inspirational force for others to follow and perpetuate like Betsy who created the online concept of Petfinder.com\u00a0in\u00a01996 with her husband Jared. Started as a resolution to do something for homeless animals, this online database of animals has facilitated 17 million adoptions in its first fifteen years. Betsy paved the way for the rest of the conference and my mindset was that of absorbing as much knowledge as I could. I attended various educational seminars and met with vendors and sponsors to look at new pet products, foods, toys, accessories, and concepts. All with the bottom line\u00a0intention of being a better blogger and vehicle to help animals, which, in essence is what BlogPaws is about and why I attended.<\/p>\n

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Another highlight of BlogPaws for me was meeting pet expert, Steve Dale, who I interviewed in my controversy of cat breeding series. Here he is with Christine and I.<\/p><\/div>\n

I will\u00a0 follow up\u00a0in the next day or so with a more lighthearted look at BlogPaws \u2013 seeing the event through the eyes of flat pet Zee and Zoey, catching up with old friends and meeting new, and just the fun part of sharing pictures and general behind the scenes good ole fun cat chat! See you soon!<\/p>\n

Oh, and don’t forget, the deadline for Pettie nominations is quickly drawing to a close! Click here<\/span><\/a> to vote for your favorite bloggers and for a chance to win $10,000 for a shelter or rescue of your choice!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While I did not have to contend with Hurricane Irene like last year, getting to Salt Lake City from Fort Lauderdale this year to attend BlogPaws was no easy picnic either. Armed with a thick pair of fuzzy socks, a neck pillow, and a mini plush blanket (all in leopard print) to make sure my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,3],"tags":[375,148,1265,376,377],"class_list":["post-6052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-blogging-writing","category-inspiration-healing","tag-betsy-saul","tag-blog-paws","tag-cats","tag-education","tag-pets"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Christine-and-Deb-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6052"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6195,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6052\/revisions\/6195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}